Students asked to update info for emergency alerts

Update Nov. 7, 2011: UC Davis emergency officials announced that the WarnMe test has been postponed to Tuesday, Nov. 29, to allow more time for preparation, given recent changes made to computer servers and storage devices that process the WarnMe messages.

UC Davis is urging students to update or add their personal contact information for UC Davis WarnMe in advance of a Nov. 9 test of the emergency alert service.

UC Davis WarnMe is part of the university’s comprehensive emergency management program and among the ways the university can alert its community to an emergency and provide important information.

Introduced in 2008, the service uses email and SMS text messages to provide students and employees with timely information and instructions in emergencies or other urgent situations that may affect their well-being.

UC Davis WarnMe uses students’ official UC Davis email addresses and personal contact information to send messages. But to reach them, the system needs up-to-date contact information.

Students can log in at warnme.ucdavis.edu to enter or update their personal contact information.

About the test

Nick Crossley, manager of the emergency management and mission continuity program for the Davis campus, said the annual test checks the performance of the service, raises awareness about the service, and reminds students and employees to update their contact information.

Scheduled to begin shortly before noon, the test will send messages to more than 88,000 work and personal email addresses, some 28,000 SMS text devices and more than 900 pagers. Voice messages will not be sent to telephones as part of this test.

Crossley said delivery of text messages is expected to be complete within six minutes, and of email, within 10 minutes.

Other sources of information

Because UC Davis WarnMe is designed to provide life-saving information, the university reserves the service to reach those who might be in immediate harm’s way. Parents and others can get emergency information on the UC Davis home page or by calling the campus Emergency Status Line at 530-752-4000.

More information about campus safety and emergency management is available online. On that website is a downloadable brochure: “Emergency Communication: Be Prepared to Play Your Part.”

The test of UC Davis WarnMe coincides with the first nationwide test of the federal Emergency Alert System (EAS) at 11 a.m. local time on the same day.